750 CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIEKCES. 



a rule very precipitous and very narrow, with crests so 

 narrow that if one should fall from these he might from 

 the same point tumble down to either side. 



The sierra is most imperfectly known. Few, if any, 

 of the educated people of the region have ever visited 

 the higher mountains, which to them are a terra incognita. 

 Only those peaks which can readily be seen from the 

 valley have been named, and of them only those which 

 appear as very prominent landpiarks. The interior peaks 

 are entirely unknown, and many first explored and 

 ascended by us, have not previously appeared on any 

 map, nor were they designated by names by any of the 

 inhabitants in the vicinity. 



With the right possessed by every original explorer, we 

 have named some of those peaks, as will be stated further 

 on in a more detailed description. Each one of the many 

 ridges which slope down towards the east, north and south 

 are known as or designated as a " Sierra." As these 

 names of the various sierras have not previously been 

 mentioned in print, nor appear on any maps, I will here 

 enumerate them. 



South of El Taste and Cerro la Calavera we have 

 three distinct groups of sierras: El Chinche, San Felipe 

 and San Nicolas, the position of which may be seen 

 from the map. If we again start from San Jose towards 

 the north, the various and principal ridges or sierras are 

 as follows : 



Cerro la Calavera, with Mt. Troyer at the upper or 

 western end. 



La Ballena, with Mt. Molera and El Taste or Candel- 

 ario at the upper or western end. 



San Lazaro, with the highest peak on the eastern side. 



El Coyote, Los Angeles, Huerigo, Cajoncito, La Com- 

 munidad, San Miguel, San Ignacio, Cerro Blanco and 



